


7:15

by Swan_Secrets



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Femslash, Swan Queen Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 23:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9570953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swan_Secrets/pseuds/Swan_Secrets
Summary: At 7:15 every morning Sheriff Swan comes into the Magic Bean for coffee. Every morning Regina bring her her coffee.Written for Swan Queen Week Prompt: Coffee Shop AU





	

Regina watched the Sheriff come in bang on 7:15am. Just like every morning. Her tan uniform shirt was pristine, as were her black pants and black boots. She sat in her usual corner booth and opened her newspaper.

“Every day.”

Regina turned to Ruby who was arranging the display of muffins, cookies and other treats on the front counter. “I know,” Regina said, talking in a hushed tone even though the sheriff was well out of earshot. “I don’t know how she manages to arrive at the exact same time every morning.”

“I wasn’t talking about her,” Ruby’s ruby-red lips turned up in a sickly sweet smile. “I was talking about you.”

“Me?”

"Yes you! Every day, every time the Sheriff comes in you make the exact same heart-eyes. I keep expecting to see cartoon hearts floating around your head."

Regina waved away Ruby’s foolishness and started making the Sheriff’s coffee. The Sheriff had the same thing every morning: coffee and a bear claw. Every morning Regina took it to her. Regina owned and managed The Magic Bean, and she insisted that while every other customer had to order at the counter providing table service was the least she could do for her best customer. The Sheriff always left a generous tip when she left her payment at the table. The Magic Bean wasn't the biggest coffee shop in town (Jefferson's Tea Rooms had that honor) but Regina liked to think it was the best. She took regulars like the Sheriff as proof.

Regina took the coffee and pastry to the Sheriff as always. They said a pleasant good morning to each other. When Regina got back to the counter Ruby was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

They served a wave of six customers that came in and Ruby was still grinning every time she looked at Regina.

“What is with you today?” Regina asked when the last of the customers in the wave had headed for a table.

“It’s not just the way you look at her,” Ruby said. “Once you’ve taken her coffee over you come back with a spring in your step.”

“Oh hush,” Regina rolled her eyes. “Now you’re being totally ridiculous.”

“There’s nothing ridiculous about it,” Ruby insisted. “Why should there be? She’s pretty hot. If it wasn’t for Dorothy I’d probably go ask her out myself.”

Regina snorted at the idea. Ask out the Sheriff! What nonsense! “Why don’t you worry more about your work and less about my love life.”

Regina looked over to the Sheriff. Well there was one true thing in what Ruby had said, Sheriff Swan was pretty hot. But the nonsense about heart-eyes and having a spring in her step was just absurd.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

For a week and a half Regina had endured Ruby’s winks and conspiratorial smiles every morning. She had threatened to fire her if she didn’t quit it, though she’d been mostly jokingly.

Mostly.

7:15

The door opened. The little bell above it tinkled. Sheriff Swan came in, dressed neat, boots polished, her blonde hair in a ponytail. Still pretty hot. Maybe it was the uniform. Was that what she found enticing? Not that she found the Sheriff enticing of course, however there was nothing wrong with admitting that the Sheriff was objectively attractive.

“Got it really bad today huh?" Ruby teased.

Regina just raised her eyebrows at Ruby and shook her head.

The routine went on as normal. Regina took over the coffee and bear claw. They said good morning to each other. A friendly professional interaction. Nothing more.

Once she was back with Ruby Regina could tell she was desperate to say something. She was practically vibrating.

“Out with it,” Regina sighed when she couldn't take it any more.

Ruby leaned in close and very quietly said "The Sheriff was checking out your ass when you walked away."

"Seriously? Can we drop this already? When did your brain revert to high school mode?"

"She was, she totally was I swear on my life."

“You’d be better swearing on your job,” Regina said.  Her voice and expression and eyes deadly serious. “I know we’re friends Ruby, but really enough is enough. Please drop this.”

“Okay okay,” Ruby threw up her hands in exasperated surrender.

Regina looked over at the Sheriff. She was reading her paper and drinking her coffee. Of course she hadn't been checking her out.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“It’s just a bad idea,” Emma Swan reiterated.

“Why?” Deputy David Nolan asked again.

“Because it would be awkward. Imagine she said no.”

Emma and David were in her office at the Sheriff’s station going over the paperwork on a recent spate of break-ins in the downtown area. While Emma wanted to get to the bottom of the situation David had steered their talk elsewhere.

“Imagine she said yes,” David countered.

“It’s good coffee. Amazing coffee. I’m not going to risk making a fool of myself. I’d have to find a new place to go.”

David sighed. He saw there was going to be no persuading Emma so he dropped it. It had taken enough effort to get her to confess she thought the woman at The Magic Bean was attractive. Getting her to do something about it was a lost cause.

Emma passed him a report across the desk and changed the subject back to the break-ins.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Aside from a few looks she’d failed to hide Ruby had at last stopped badgering Regina about the Sheriff.

A week went by and on the following Monday something happened that hadn’t happened for a long time.

7:15.

Regina looked at the door.

She waited.

She waited.

She looked at her watch. It turned 7:16.

There was no sign of the Sheriff.

Irrational concern plucked at her thoughts and unwarranted fear churned in her stomach. She was, of course, allowed to be late. She was, of course, entitled to not come at all.

Regina worried anyway. Was she sick? Had she been hurt? Had she picked up something of Ruby’s silly notions and been made uncomfortable? Had she discovered coffee she preferred elsewhere?

As the minutes passed Regina knew that Ruby wanted to comment but appreciated the fact that she didn’t actually say something.

It was just dumb to have this kind of reaction just because one morning one of her regular customers hadn’t come in. It happened all the time. But there was a strange sense of loss. The morning just wasn’t the same without having seen Sheriff Swan. At 8:30 Regina messed up a simple customer order, giving them cream and no sugar instead of sugar and no cream. At 9:30 she dropped a pot of coffee, shattering it. As the morning went on she became frustrated and irate, snapping at Ruby for no reason at all. Every time the bell signalled someone coming in Regina looked up in hope.

It was just after lunch, after Belle French had started her shift, that Sheriff Swan finally came in. She looked exhausted. She nodded at Regina as she went to her usual booth which was unoccupied. It was a great relief to see her. Regina went over right away.

“Afternoon Sheriff, the usual or something else?”

The Sheriff looked up, stifling a yawn. “Usual would be great. I was up all night. There was a jailbreak a couple of counties over. It was a long night of road blocks and searching.”

“Did you get your man?”

“Darn right I did,” Emma smiled.

“Good,” Regina returned the smile. “I’ll be right back with your coffee.”

Back at the counter Regina set about making Emma’s drink. She could feel Ruby and Belle’s eyes on her. She stopped what she was doing and glared at them. "Fine, I find her attractive, I'm still not going to do anything about it." Her gaze dared them to say something about it. Wisely they both kept their mouths shut.

Once Regina had gone back over to Emma, the two of them all smiles, Ruby turned to Belle. "Well at least she admits it now."

"Doesn't matter if she's not going to ask her out," Belle sighed. They watched on. It was incredibly obvious watching them that Regina and Emma both were epically into each other.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Even if I did like her, and I'm not saying I do, I don't even know if she's gay or bi or interested in me," said Emma from the passenger seat.

David was driving. They were on patrol around town, as much about public visibility as it was about looking for any signs of crime. It had been a couple of days since the all night hunt for the escaped prisoner. "She's definitely gay," David said with the confidence of a man who thought he knew what he was talking about.

Emma blinked. "How would you know that?" She found it implausible that David would suddenly become and expert in the sexuality of the manager of her favorite coffee shop.

"Mary-Margaret," he said.

"How does your wife know if she is gay or not?" Emma blinked as one possible way occurred to her. "They didn't date or something?"

"Oh, no no, nothing like that. She's good friends with Ruby who works there. Ruby was asking Mary-Margaret if she had any idea if you were into women."

"Why would Ruby want to know if I'm into women?"

David opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated. He took a second and decided to answer anyway. "I kinda told Mary-Margaret I wouldn't say anything because Ruby swore her to secrecy but apparently Ruby thinks Regina might be interested in you."

"And what exactly did Mary-Margaret tell Ruby?"

"The truth," David said.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Mary-Margaret told me Emma's as gay as a sparkly rainbow unicorn," Ruby said to Regina as they were wiping down the tables at the end of the day. "Those were her exact words."

Regina stopped. "I thought we weren't going to mention this again, something about someone getting fired if they did."

"Hey you totally opened it back up for discussion when you told us you were into her," Ruby countered. She stepped back from the table she'd been cleaning, checking she hadn't missed any spots. "It's an official rule."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

David eased the car around a right turn.

“Well it doesn’t matter anyway, gay or straight I’m not going to...”

“Take a chance?” David suggested.

Emma sighed the sigh of someone being forced to talk about something when they'd much rather be doing anything else. “More like take a risk. It’s just not worth the embarrassment.”

“If you don’t take risks you don’t get anywhere,” David slowed to a stop at a red traffic light. “If Mary-Margaret hadn’t taken a chance and talked to me we would have never gotten together and wouldn’t be happily married now.”

Emma shifted uncomfortably. “My track record with women sucks, it’ll be weird and awkward. Who asked out the lady that serves them coffee every morning?”

“Lots of people.”

“What possible good could come of it? Green light.” Emma gestured.

David glanced up sure enough the light had turned green. He resumed driving. “Romance and happiness?”

Emma rolled her eyes like that was the silliest thing she’d heard all day.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Well,” said Regina, “even if she is gay it doesn’t make a difference.”

“Why not?” Ruby moved on to the next table, giving it a spray with cleaner then wiping.  

“I feel like a stuck record talking about this. It’s inappropriate and it wouldn’t be worth the embarrassment.”  

“If you don’t put yourself out there now and again nothing good will ever happen. Do you think Dorothy and I just magically turned into a couple? It took effort and taking chances and putting ourselves out there.”

Regina put her hands on her hips and huffed out a breath. “It’s not like I have a stellar history with dating. I hardly know her, and when she rejects me she'll never come here again. What good can come of me making a fool of myself?"

"You might get laid," Ruby waggled her eyebrows.

Regina's eyes narrowed to an icy glare.

"And you might get a date with a gorgeous woman who makes you smile like no one else does."

Regina rolled her eyes. "How about we just get this finished?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

That night Emma couldn't sleep for a long time. She rolled from one position to another and still sleep didn't come.

As much as she hated to admit it to herself she couldn't stop thinking about her conversation with David. Emma had been pretty sure that Regina was gay or bi, her gaydar was definitely lit up by her. Confirmation shouldn't have changed anything. But it had. Now she knew for sure another of her excuses for not doing anything about her attraction to Regina was shattered.

Emma was rapidly running out of reasons not to go for it.

In her mind scenario after scenario played out.  All the different things she could say. All the things Regina might say. Whole imaginary conversations unfolded. Some good. Some bad. Some joyous. Some painful. From the realistic to the outlandish the common thread in her flights of fancy was that she was brave enough to take the leap in the first place.

Eventually Emma drifted off into a restless slumber.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Regina made herself a cup of hot cocoa at one in the morning after trying and failing to get to sleep. She sat in the living room with late night junk TV on in hopes it would trigger her brain into sleep mode.

She barely noticed that a trashy Jerry Springer knock-off had come on. She only focused on the screen when one of the people on the show made some weird screeching noise and attacked one of the others. Regina turned the TV off. Even in her sleep deprived state she couldn't face such nonsense.

"How are you in my head like this?" Regina said aloud. "Emma. Emma. Emma Swan. Sheriff Swan." What was it about that particular woman that had gotten so under her skin? This wasn't like her. Regina had never been the kind of person to get infatuated like this.

She finished her cocoa and went back to bed. She couldn't help but imagine how nice it would be to have a certain blonde Sheriff to snuggle up with.

Not that that was ever going to happen.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The next morning Regina kept checking her watch.

7:10

7:11

7:12

"Waiting for something?" Ruby commented sweetly. “Or maybe someone?”

Regina didn’t rise to Ruby's bait.

7:13

Time wasn't this slow every morning was it? She checked the clock on the cash register. Sure enough her watch was right.

When 7:15 finally arrived Regina was busy taking an order from another customer. She glanced over and caught Emma’s eye as she came in. Right on time. Emma smiled and headed to her booth. Regina hurried to deal with her customer who was extremely particular about the complicated concoction he wanted.

Ruby took the job of making the very special coffee for Mr Particular, while Regina made Emma’s drink.

Coffee and bear claw were soon being taken by Regina to Emma. The journey to the booth seemed to be twice as many steps as usual.

“Good morning Sheriff,” Regina said as she set the coffee and pastry in front of Emma.

“Morning,” Emma looked up from her newspaper. To Regina she seemed off. Like she was on edge. Normally Emma appeared to be pretty laid back and at ease with the world. This morning though she looked jittery.

Regina almost asked if she was okay but decided against it. It made for an awkward moment, Regina looking like she was about to speak, and Emma waiting, fidgeting with her hands in front of her.

“Uh, enjoy,” Regina blurted.  

“Thanks,” Emma nodded.

Regina turned away. Instead of stepping away from the booth however she turned back.

Simultaneously Regina and Emma said “Would you like to...” They both stopped, flustered.

“Sorry,” Emma apologised and looked down at her coffee. “What were you saying?”

Regina shifted uncomfortably on her feet. “Oh I, well, I, never mind.” She forced a smile and started away again.

“Wait,” Emma stood up. Regina paused. “Ask me what you want to ask me.”

Regina swallowed her nerves. “I was wondering if sometime you’d like to do something, together. Like dinner or a movie.”

“I would,” Emma licked her lips and their eyes met.

“You would?”

“Absolutely.”

For a moment they just looked at each other.

Had she just...?

Did she say...?

“When?” Regina stepped a little closer.

“Are you free tonight, we go get dinner somewhere,” Emma suggested.

“That would be perfect.”

“Okay,” Emma tugged out her notebook, scribbled on a blank page then tore it off and handed it to Regina. Regina looked at it. It was a phone number. Emma’s phone number. It was tangible proof that this was not the total disaster she had prepared herself for. "If you text me your address I'll come pick you up, say around seven-thirty?"

Regina nodded. "Yes, I should uh," she waved back over to the counter where there were a few customers waiting. "I'll see you tonight Sheriff."

"Emma, if we're going to go on a date call me Emma."

"I'll see you tonight Emma."

Regina hurried to the counter. She was giddy. She was going on a date. She had a million and one things racing through her mind.

Before serving the next customer in line she looked over to Emma. Their eyes met again and they smiled at each other.

They were going on a date!

7:15 would never be the same.


End file.
